I read a post from a Empeg user in Alaska, said his empeg works when its Below zero. I was wondering about this because I live in an area where the temps are currently around 15 to 30 degrees. The spec on the empeg home pages state that the unit is not able to operate in these temps and only the radio will work. but as soon as you turn it on the HD runs to boot it up. So my question, is it safe? Should it not play? What care should be taken? When I work, I leave it in the car and its been very cold out and it starts playing like any other unit would.
Thank you

I've had the odd startup problem with the unit in the cold, but after a few minutes to warm up - the unit works fine.

David

I don't have my empeg yet, but when I do, I plan to include a heater in the installation. (I also live in Alaska, and am just a little bit ticked at liufeng because I wanted to be the first person in Alaska to have an empeg! ;-(

My installation plans are to have an aluminum heat sink mounted about an inch below the empeg. (If you live in the UK, you'll have to make your heat sink out of aluminium, instead... ;-) On the bottom of the heat sink I will attach an oil pan heater (ca. 25-50 watts) or possibly a battery warmer. On the bottom of the empeg sled will be a thermostat reading the air temperature and controlling the heater. I figure if I set the thermostat to about 100--125 degrees (F) I'll be in the ballpark. Then, any time the car is plugged in, the empeg will be getting heat as well as the engine and transmission.

For people who live in warm climates and are not familiar with the concept of plugging your car in... in cold climates, a car will be equipped with some or all of the following: An engine heater (500-1000 watts) that warms the engine coolant; oil pan heaters that are silicon heat pads glued to the oil pan of the engine and transmission, anywhere from 25 to 200 watts, they get very hot (more than 200 degrees F); some sort of battery warmer (which I don't approve of -- if your engine won't start with a cold battery, then you shouldn't be forcing it, something else is wrong); and an interior heater (600-1000 watts) to take the chill out of of the interior and reduce the tendency to start the engine and let it warm up for 15 minutes before driving away which (counter-intuitive as it may seem) is bad for the car. Where I live, with the equipment I have (everything mentioned above except the battery warmer, replaced by a small 1/2 amp trickle charger instead) I figure it costs me about 15 cents an hour to plug in. I have my car plug-in on a timer, so that 2--5 hours before I start out in the morning (depending on temperature, which can be as cold as -65 degrees) it starts warming up. Comes to about $13 a month.

I'm hoping that my empeg heater idea will allow me to use my empeg under any and all cold weather conditions. Time will tell, I guess...

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

Cripes, Doug, don't add a heater to the Empeg!

Just bring it in the house when you're not using it. By the time your car is warmed up and ready to roll, the environment will be perfect for the Empeg. As long as you don't leave it outside overnight it should be fine. Remember that electronic equipment generates its own heat just fine, and likes cool environments better than hot ones.

And I'm sure not many people got your "aluminium" joke, although I did.



-- Tony Fabris -- Empeg #144 --
Caution: Do not look into laser with remaining good eye.

I live in MA and it has been really cold these few days, something down to -10. Eventhough that i try not to do it but i will still my empeg in my car overnight sometime, and it never had any problem to start up in the cold morning.

zli

Tony --

The heater will only be on when the empeg is off - i.e., the car parked overnight and the temperature below zero and the car plugged in. The idea is to pre-warm the empeg so that it is at a reasonable (i.e., around 50-60 degrees) temperature when it is first turned on.

From some of the posts I have seen here, it would appear that the low-temp cutoff isn't working on the empeg, and I am not real keen on the idea of spinning up those hard drives when they are in a sub-zero state.

As for taking the empeg out of the car every time I park it.... forget it. It is tough enough getting in the house with an armload of mail and a bag of groceries while plugging in the car when it is 30 below zero without having to drag my stereo along with me too.

My engine and transmission are pre-warmed before I start them in the morning -- it seems reasonable to do the same for the empeg as well.

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

So your plan is to let the Empeg freeze overnight to twenty-below-zero, then give it a 100-degree boost for a few minutes each morning? Sounds like a prescription for failure to me. That kind of hot/cold/hot pattern is bound to make the hard drive (if not the other components) fail in short order.

Now, if the electric heater warmed it to a more modest 60 degrees, and was left on overnight (so that it never froze), then you might be OK...



-- Tony Fabris -- Empeg #144 --
Caution: Do not look into laser with remaining good eye.

Tony --

Well, sort of, but not quite. I'm not warming the empeg to 100 degrees -- I'm warming the air beneath it. And not for a few minutes, but for three to six hours. It's not like I'm going to be taking a hair dryer and blasting away.... it'll be more like the effect you would get by placing a 40 watt light bulb three inches below the empeg and switching it off every time the air surrounding it got over 100 degrees. I don't intend for the empeg itself to ever reach an internal temperature of more than 50-60 degrees. It will take a little bit of experimenting to find the right thermostat setting to achieve that goal.

Your point about repetitive temperature cycling is a good one, though... I just don't know what the effects of large temperature swings while the unit is turned off will be. None of the other electronics in my car seem to mind it (CD player, engine management computer, etc.) and they get fired up every morning stone cold. So any problems might center around the hard drives, and the whole objective of this plan is to have them at a normal operating temperature before they are turned on. Also, keep in mind that while the temperature swings are large, they are NOT rapid.

Anybody have any experience with laptop computers and large temperature swings?

tanstaafl.

"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

Hi,

Mine started fine at -4C a couple of months ago. We don't get much below that in the UK.

Regards,


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John, (S/No 0114, 20G)